The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Ingrid Bergman gives a strong performance as a sort of Gladis of China, an unusual woman who finds a fulfilling life in a foreign culture and foreign tongue. The first half of the movie offers compelling scenes of her struggle to adapt to a seemingly brutal and difficult life in a small impoverished Chinese village. She is a common woman, who had been deemed unsuitable for foreign missionary work, but one who perseveres to achieve her dreams.But in the second half of the movie the script goes for high melodrama, including an armed Japanese invasion of Manchuria with bombing and strafing of peasants. In reality the battle for Manchuria was over as soon as it started, as the only combat involved when Japan seized Manchuria was a short conflict in Mukden. There were no bombing raids on small cities. Additionally, a march to Xian would require a journey of over 1,000 miles, which seems nearly impossible given the circumstances of the film. But, if you are looking for a good story you could do worse than this one. Surprisingly, the film was mostly shot in Wales, the UK.

I saw this film years and years ago, and I never forgot it because of Ingrid Bergman's magnificent performance.Bergman plays Gladys Aylward, a British woman who wants to be a missionary in China; however, she's turned down due to lack of qualifications. Instead, Gladys goes to work as a house servant and buys a ticket to China on the layaway plan. Her boss finds out of her plans and connects her with a Miss Lawson (Athene Seyler) who has been working as a Chinese missionary for many years. Together, the women open the Inn of the Sixth Happiness where mule drivers can stay, enjoy the food, and hear the Biblical stories.Over time, Gladys becomes beloved in the community for her strength of purpose, her warmth, and her love of the Chinese people. The Mandarin (Robert Donat) puts her in charge of seeing that the law against foot binding is carried out. She meets Captain Lin Nan (Curt Jurgens), who is half-Chinese, and they fall in love. But when the Japanese attack in the '30s, it falls to Gladys to get 100 children, including several she has adopted, over the mountains to safety.Though Gladys Aylward hated this movie, the script actually follows the events of her own life closely, and that includes the soldier with whom she falls in love. What upset her was the casting of Ingrid Bergman, whom Aylward considered "evil" for becoming pregnant by Rossellini while married to someone else. She also objected to the love interest being half-European, a fact she found insulting (the man she fell in love with was pure Chinese) and the love scenes embarrassed her. In short, she felt the film damaged her reputation.Bergman, of course, makes this film. She's radiant, beautiful, and perfectly captures Gladys' sincerity and commitment. Someone wrote in the subject line of their review "A perfect actress" - and that she is. Highly emotional in some scenes, in others, she is calm and motherly, but always strong and determined. One of her best performances, and a role worthy of her great talent.This was Robert Donat's last film; he died while it was still being made. His severe asthma is apparent throughout. A lovely performance. Jurgens is effective as Lin Nan, stalwart and handsome, a man who finds getting in touch with his emotions difficult.A wonderful, heartwarming film. Gladys Aylward eventually returned to England for ten years and was refused re-entry into China after the Communists took over. She then started an orphanage in Taiwan which she ran until her death in 1970.A remarkable woman, and whether she liked it or not, it's a remarkable story and film, well directed by Mark Robson.

This is a story of a real English woman (Gladys Aylward) who gave her life for the Chinese people as a missionary with surprisingly strong will.She visited the office of China Inland Mission Center in London only to be refused. On her way to the introduced employer for a housemaid, she stopped by a travel agent and booked a train to China via Siberia. In this way, she always does what she believes she ought to do, upon belief of that God protects and leads her. She shows her sanguine attitude and tireless energy which are typical to God believers. One may doubt if such a woman actually exists, but I remember similar woman. I read an autobiography ("Chasing the Dragon" by Jackie Pulllinger) of another English woman who served as a missionary at the Walled City of Hong Kong. From the memory of my surprise from the book, I could believe that Cladys Aylward actually existed. I think Ingrid Bergman acted this woman very well. However, this movie has many embroideries and dramatizations that are typical to 1950s Hollywood movies. For example, English language dominates the movie in China, and the scene the children are welcomed amid hearty cheers of people of Sian. The most questioned embroidery is that the colonel is given Caucasian blood and made to the lover of Cladys.

In the 30's, the working-class Englishwoman Gladys Aylward (Ingrid Bergman) leaves Liverpool and arrives in London, trying to join the China Missionary Society expecting to be sent to China. However, having only ordinary schooling, her request is turned down due to her lack of qualification to the position. Gladys works hard as a maid and uses all her savings and salaries to buy a train ticket to Tientsin. Then she travels by mule to the remote province of Wangcheng, where she works with the Englishwoman Jeannie Lawson (Athene Seyler) and the Chinese cook Yang (Peter Chong) in the Inn of the Sixth Happiness. When Ms. Lawson has an accident and dies, Gladys has no money to run the establishment and accepts the position of "foot inspector" offered by the Mandarin Hsien Chang (Robert Donat). She is assigned to visit the countryside to promote and enforce the government's law against foot binding Chinese girls. She is successful, changes her nationality to Chinese and her name to Jen-ai (meaning "the one who loves people"), surprising the skeptical bi-racial Captain Lin Nan (Curt Jurgens). When Wangcheng is invaded by the Japanese, Jen-ai travels through the mountains with one hundred children to save them from death."The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" is a wonderful and engaging epic based on the true story of the enlightened Gladys Aylward. Her biography romanticized by Hollywood is awesome, and the movie is fantastic. Ingrid Bergman is stunning in the role of a servant in a period of class struggle in London determined to go to China where she believes she belongs and has a mission from God to be accomplished. The colors and the landscapes are impressive, but the cast of Ingrid Bergman as a woman not gorgeous; Curt Jurgens as a Chinese-Caucasian; and Robert Donat as a Chinese is weird, but they have perfect performances and I believe that is what matters in a film. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "A Morada da Sexta Felicidade" ("The Inn of the Sixth Happiness")